DESCRIPTION(Provided by Applicant): The training program in dermatology provides post-doctoral and pre-doctoral candidates training in basic and clinical skin research. This program fulfills a unique niche in dermatology because the training faculty have expertise in bioengineering, computer science and optics as well as traditional biology and health services research. In the four years since this grant was funded under the current PI, the faculty have provided successful training in skin biology and immunology, computer science, optics, engineering and informatics. Skin biology-based studies are supported by diverse laboratory approaches involving enzymology, recombinant DNA technology, lipid biochemistry and gene regulation enabling a trainee to gain broad laboratory expertise. Trainees interested in Health Services research train in collaboration with the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine and may obtain an MPH through the training program. Finally, trainees interested in the interface between technology and medicine have the opportunity to study under the auspices of the Center For Future Health, where their research can focus on interdisciplinary applications for skin disease in collaboration with the faculty in Engineering, Optics and Computer Sciences. Since post-doctoral training is rare in these fields, pre-doctoral support is needed to better entice such trainees to skin-oriented projects. Highly qualified candidates will be selected from applicants applying directly to our residency or research programs, or through the predoctoral training programs of the departments of Optics, Engineering and Computer Science who express an interest in skin research and an academic career.